


The Truth Is Hiding In Your Eyes

by Thursday_Next



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-09
Updated: 2012-02-09
Packaged: 2017-10-30 21:07:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/336141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thursday_Next/pseuds/Thursday_Next
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for <a href="http://kinkme-merlin.livejournal.com/30557.html?thread=29455965#t29455965">this kmm prompt</a>: Gwen is the queen and the envy of Camelot. She just wishes Arthur would look at her the way he looks at Merlin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Truth Is Hiding In Your Eyes

Gwen knew that Arthur cared about her, that he thought her pretty and blessed with many good qualities; that he wished for her to be his queen and was as happy as she was when she walked down the aisle towards him. She had everything she could possibly wish for, was the envy of every young woman in Camelot – and perhaps beyond. And yet there was something more that she craved.

Gwen couldn't help but wish that just once, Arthur would look at her the way he looked at Merlin. 

Where she was favoured with puppyish pouts and affectionate smiles, Merlin was on the receiving end of intense, longing glances. When Arthur looked at him, it was as though he couldn't bear to have him out of his sight. He teased him, too, of course, glared and rolled his eyes as though Merlin was the most exasperating idiot ever to draw breath. But she'd be happy to elicit even this intensity of emotion. His affections, his interactions with her were always so polite, so equable. She'd thought at first that this was how love should be, no risk of having her heart broken as it had been by Lancelot leaving; that people who were to be married should, after a few obstacles, live happily ever after in perpetual pleasant agreement. While Arthur had seemed genuinely sad when they'd been forced apart by circumstance, she'd never glimpsed the passionate desperation she'd seen in his eyes when he'd believed Merlin hurt, riding out against all advice to search for him.

It was to Merlin, too, that he gave his trust, his hopes and fears, his despairs and delights in sparkling glances. His looks said _I need you, I love you_ in ways his words never could. In times of danger it was always Merlin Arthur sought, always his counsel and comfort that could rouse him. She felt, sometimes, like an afterthought - easily taken up and easily cast aside. Arthur's words said he loved her, that he would give up anything for her, but his eyes said something else entirely. 

And as for Merlin, he made no effort to hide the adoration he felt for his king: his devotion shone from his eyes with every glance. Lately she'd seen less of the humour that she remembered lighting up his face when she'd first known him. There were shadows in his eyes that only grew with each passing year like the ghosts of secrets too-long kept, and Gwen wondered if they were in part due to her marriage to Arthur.

If she'd thought that there was more to it, that they were lovers in secret and had been playing her for a fool, she'd have been angry. But she was almost certain that Arthur himself had no idea of the truths his gaze revealed, that he believed himself in love with her and knew not why he was so drawn to another. 

Sometimes Gwen wasn't sure who she should feel sorriest for.


End file.
